


The Way From Here

by xenoglossy



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-19
Updated: 2014-10-19
Packaged: 2018-02-21 17:21:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2476202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xenoglossy/pseuds/xenoglossy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kyoko manages to save Sayaka after all, but that, too, has its cost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Way From Here

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ShamanicShaymin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShamanicShaymin/gifts).



The first day, Sayaka didn't even get out of bed.

She said she wasn't feeling well, which wasn't exactly a lie, and her mother looked sympathetic and said that Sayaka _had_ seemed awfully tired lately and it was no surprise to find that she'd been coming down with something. So Sayaka's mother called the school and Sayaka lay in bed and stared at the wall and wondered, _what now?_

It was ridiculous, really. She'd had a whole life, the better part of thirteen years, of being an ordinary girl, and only a few days of... something else. Even so, knowing what she knew now, could she just go back to the way things were before? Pretend she didn't know anything about witches or magical girls? Or should she trail around after Homura with a baseball bat, playing at being useful backup, for all the good that would do?

But the more she turned this over in her mind, the more she found a thick grey blanket of exhaustion descending to muffle her thoughts. Maybe she really wasn't well. Who knew what turning into a witch and back would do to you? Maybe she'd feel better if she slept.

So she pulled the covers over her face to block out the light and sank into a doze.

She slept on and off—mostly on—for the rest of the day, and most of the next, until she was awakened by something hard bouncing off her head.

She sat up, blinking and rubbing her head, and peered blearily at the intruder. "Kyoko? What are you doing here?"

Kyoko picked up the apple she'd thrown at Sayaka and started polishing it on her shirt. "I told your mom I was bringing you the math homework."

"Oh," said Sayaka, and groped for something to follow that up, but came up empty-handed.

"I mean, I'm not, of course. I just wanted to see how you were doing, after... what happened. Make sure you're not feeling witchy, or anything." She slouched against the wall and took a bite of the apple, but there was something in the way that she was looking at Sayaka that belied her casual pose.

Sayaka couldn't even muster the energy to object to that last bit. "I'm okay."

"You were asleep when I came in and it's four in the afternoon. That's supposed to be 'okay'?"

"Well, I mean, I'm not hurt, or anything, I think," Sayaka said lamely.

"Good! You're not hurt, you think. That's something. So what _is_ wrong with you?"

"I just..." Sayaka trailed off for a moment, looking for the words. "I just don't know what to do anymore."

Kyoko sighed. "Tell me about it."

Now that Sayaka had gotten started, words seemed to come spilling out of her without any mediation from whatever part of her brain was usually responsible for these things. "I had, I don't know, I had a purpose, I felt like I could really do something to help people, but then it all went wrong—I mean, I failed and I had to be rescued and now it's all gone, and what do I have left?"

"What do you mean, what do you have left?" Kyoko said. There was an edge in her voice that hadn't been there before. "You've got all this." She waved a hand vaguely at the surrounding room. "You've got your normal life to go back to. What do you think _I_ have, now?"

It took Sayaka a moment to process that. "You mean—"

"Yep." Kyoko tossed her apple core against the wall with unnecessary force. "I only had one thing going on in my life, and I gave it up."

She didn't add "for you," but the words hung in the air all the same.

"I... I didn't think..." Sayaka let her sentence trail off, unsure where she'd even meant to go with it.

"So tell me," Kyoko went on, "what am _I_ supposed to do now? Because I'm pretty sure I have less idea than you do. _You_ could start by going back to school. Or talking to your friends. They're probably worried about you."

A flash of anger burned through the haze filling Sayaka's mind. "At least _you're_ not a failure. You gave up your power, and I just lost mine because I was stupid and—and weak, and...."

"Oh, forget it," Kyoko said. "I came to make sure you were still alive and human and stuff, and you are, so I guess I'll be going. You can have your pity party by yourself."

And before Sayaka could say anything else, she was out the door, not even taking her apple core with her.

* * *

Sayaka did go back to school the next day, though for all the good it did, she thought she might as well not have. She'd never been the best or most attentive student, but now the teachers' words seemed to wash over her in waves of meaningless sound, and the writing on the chalkboard might as well have been in a foreign language. Her note file remained stubbornly blank.

Lunchtime came as an even greater relief than usual. Madoka invited her up to the roof, which they turned out to have to themselves. It was probably due to the weather—a bit grey and damp, not the best day for eating outdoors—but Sayaka was glad for the relative privacy.

It was clear that Madoka wasn't sure, at first, what to say to her, but as they ate the awkward silence progressed to small talk and then to something resembling the easy conversation they used to have. Before long, Sayaka found herself describing the previous day's fight with Kyoko. Although she elided some of the details of what she'd said—not to make herself look better, but to keep Madoka from worrying _too_ much about how she was feeling.

"I didn't mean to upset her," Sayaka said, noticing the defensive note in her voice only once she'd spoken. "I wasn't trying to say I had more right to be sad.... But maybe I really shouldn't complain."

Madoka was silent for a moment, then said, "I don't think you did anything wrong. But she must be having a hard time too, right now. And she doesn't have anyone else to turn to."

"So you think I should apologize to her?"

"Well, maybe not apologize, exactly. But it might be nice to see if she's all right."

"I guess you're right." Kyoko had saved Sayaka's life, after all. Sayaka owed her at least that much. "I'll talk to her after school."

* * *

"Do you want to go to the arcade with me?"

Kyoko looked at Sayaka, eyes narrowed, like she thought this was some kind of trick. "What? Why?"

"I just thought... it seemed like fun, you know?"

"Well, yes, but you and I aren't—I mean, we don't exactly hang out."

Sayaka hesitated. What could she say that wouldn't make this sound like an act of pity or obligation?

"Neither of us has anything better to do with our afternoons right now," she said finally. "And I thought I'd rather go with someone else than to go alone."

Kyoko tilted her head, still eyeing Sayaka suspiciously. "Okay," she said after a moment. "Why not."

Sayaka had never been much for arcades, and her inexperience showed. Kyoko beat her at Dance Dance Revolution on ten different songs back-to-back. But Sayaka had to admit that the exertion felt good; it was a relief to lose herself in the beat and the movement for a while and not think so much.

After her tenth victory, Kyoko magnanimously allowed Sayaka to take a break. They tried out a fighting game, which Sayaka won ("Beginner's luck," Kyoko said), and then Sayaka watched for a while as Kyoko tried and failed to get anything out of a crane game. Once Kyoko gave up on that, she decided it was snack time; Sayaka bought two sodas from a vending machine while Kyoko produced a package of those mushroom-shaped chocolates from somewhere, and they ate in something like companionable silence.

"You know, at first I thought this was going to be weird, but... I had a good time," Kyoko said.

To her own surprise, Sayaka found herself saying, "So, same time tomorrow?"

* * *

They fell into a pattern after that, meeting in the afternoons when Sayaka got out of school and going to an arcade or a cafe or the movies or the park. It meant less time spent with Madoka and Hitomi, but their close-knit little trio wasn't what it used to be anyway; Kyubey had drawn her and Madoka apart from Hitomi, and Kyosuke—without knowing it or meaning to—had driven the wedge in further. So maybe it was just as well.

The strange thing was that although these outings had begun as sort of a favor (if a pathetically inadequate one), before long Sayaka found herself looking forward to them. (Which perhaps made them worth even less as a favor, but after some deliberation she decided it wasn't worth thinking about that.) They rarely talked about magical girls, or witches, or what Kyubey might be up to now, or what they ought to do about any of it; they stuck to safe topics that were unlikely to explode on them. The weather. The city. Things they were doing now and things they'd done on past outings. Kyoko started giving Sayaka pointers on arcade games. Sayaka talked sometimes about school, though she tried not to mention Madoka or Homura unless it was necessary, preferring to stick to anecdotes about what weird rant her English teacher had gone off on _this_ time and how two boys in her class had managed to play catch with an eraser for a full twenty minutes before anyone told them off. It wasn't thrilling stuff, but Kyoko seemed to find it amusing, or at least she pretended that she did. Kyoko never talked about what she did with the rest of her day. Sayaka didn't pry.

One afternoon, they got crepes from a stand downtown—great big messy confections full of fruit and whipped cream and chocolate sauce—and took them to the park to eat them. Sayaka spared a fleeting thought for her parents' probable displeasure at her spoiling her dinner this way, but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them, and (she thought with a sort of bitter amusement) this lie of omission was probably her smallest one in quite a while. It was the kind of thing normal kids did without telling their parents, the kind of thing her classmates might do, perhaps, on a date—but that train of thought ground to an uneasy halt right there.

Sayaka and Kyoko sat side by side on a bench, nibbling at their crepes; a few optimistic birds gathered around in hope of crumbs, and Kyoko glared at them. Sayaka let out a small laugh before she could stop herself.

Kyoko scowled. "What?"

"I'm sorry, it was just—the way you were looking at those birds, like you were going to beat them up if they came any closer."

For a moment, Kyoko's expression stayed unchanged, but then she grinned. "I would, too. I mean, I may not be able to do much now, but I bet I could still take a bird."

"There's five of them, though—you're outnumbered. I mean, I'd be happy to help you, but they'd still have the advantage."

"Look at them, though," Kyoko said, between bites of crepe. "They're so fat and lazy. You can tell they've never had to fight to survive."

"They're probably used to being fed by the humans here."

"Exactly! So they'd never know what hit 'em," Kyoko said, with a tone that suggested that the matter was now settled. She punctuated the statement by taking an extra-large bite of crepe—though the whipped cream and chocolate sauce that smeared across her face lessened the effect a bit.

"Oh no," said Sayaka, laughing again, "now you've got..." And without thinking, she reached over to wipe the smudges from Kyoko's face.

They froze like that for a moment, with Sayaka's fingertips brushing Kyoko's cheek, and Sayaka's breath caught in her throat and her heart raced, and then Kyoko jerked abruptly away and it was over.

"I'm sorry," Sayaka started to say, but Kyoko cut her off.

"Behind you," she said, her voice low and urgent. "Look."

Sayaka twisted around. "What—"

"The woman in the blue tracksuit."

And then Sayaka saw her. At first glance she looked ordinary enough—a middle-aged woman, somewhat heavy-set, with short, greying hair, strolling along the path just as a number of other people were. But the way she was moving was wrong. She staggered forward slowly, haltingly, staring straight ahead but not seeming to see anything. Her body tilted forward at a strange angle, as if she were being pulled forward by an invisible string attached to her torso.

"Is that..." Sayaka began, but stopped as the woman came nearer and the answer to the question became clear: the livid mark on the woman's neck could only be a witch's kiss.

Kyoko stood. "We should follow her."

"We could be killed doing that!" Sayaka hissed.

"Since when are you so afraid of a little danger?"

"I'm not, it's just—what can we even do?"

"Even if we can't fight the witch, we might be able to keep the victim—or victims—safe for now. Isn't that your thing, saving people?"

Sayaka hesitated. "Maybe, but..."

"Look, there's only one magical girl left in town, and who knows when or if she's going to show up? And if she doesn't... well, do you really want to keep wondering whether there was something you could've done after all?"

"All right, fine," said Sayaka.

"C'mon then, we're losing her!" said Kyoko. She shoved the last few bites of crepe into her mouth all at once, then grabbed Sayaka's arm and dragged her off the bench.

It was a good thing that people who had been kissed by a witch moved so slowly, Sayaka thought; the woman was still in sight by the time they'd finished debating, though they had to put on a short burst of speed to catch up with her. By the time the woman in the tracksuit left the park, Kyoko and Sayaka were just a few paces behind. Sayaka slowed to a walk, breathing heavily. Could she have become out of shape so fast? Or was it just that her normal human body was less resilient?

The woman led them into a part of town unfamiliar to Sayaka, a neighborhood where empty, run-down buildings and windowless warehouses lined the cracked sidewalks. They passed few people on the streets at first, but as they went on, more blank-eyed people began to stumble into view.

"Great, of course it couldn't just be _one_ person we had to rescue," Kyoko said. "Now we've got a whole pack of them and just the two of us."

"Well, if Madoka could do it all by herself, the two of us together should be able to manage," Sayaka said, with a confidence she didn't feel.

"Wait, Madoka did what?"

Sayaka had forgotten Kyoko hadn't been around for that. "I'll explain later."

Just ahead of them was a small gas station—just a few pumps, two attendants, and a faded sign, without even a convenience store attached. The witch-kissed people began to gather under the awning that sheltered the pumps, surrounding the attendants—who, Sayaka saw as she drew closer, had the same glazed look.

There were six of them in all, counting the attendants. It could be worse, but Kyoko had been right—it wasn't good odds. But now that they were here, it was too late to back out, wasn't it?

Sayaka glanced briefly over at Kyoko, who gave her a nervous grin, and then turned her attention back to the crowd, edging nearer to where they were huddled together.

"... and we shall all be cleansed," one of the attendants was saying. "We must be cleansed!" Then he knelt down, and Sayaka couldn't see what he was doing anymore.

She could, however, see the woman in the blue tracksuit taking out a book of matches.

Without taking the time to think or formulate a plan, Sayaka flung herself at the woman, making a grab for the matches. The woman, taken by surprise, stumbled back and loosened her grip, but Sayaka's fingers wouldn't cooperate with her thoughts—she fumbled the matchbook and it fell, skittering across the asphalt.

The woman and the second gas station attendant, the one who hadn't been speaking, both dove for the matchbook, but Kyoko got there first.

"Looking for this?" she said, holding it up. (If the situation had been less fraught, Sayaka might have commented on how cheesy that was.) Then she started down the street, towards a storm drain a few meters away.

But before she could get there, the woman in the tracksuit grabbed her arm. Kyoko managed to keep her grip on the matches, but she couldn't pull herself free; she was the more athletic of the two, but the woman was taller and heavier and had the sort of single-minded determination that seemed to come from being kissed by a witch.

Hoping that this narrow focus would work in her favor, Sayaka ran up behind the woman, who, to her relief, didn't turn around, and kicked her hard in the back of one knee. The woman crumpled noiselessly, and Kyoko wrenched her arm away and flung the matchbook down the drain in a single motion.

"Should we run now?" Sayaka asked.

But Kyoko shook her head, pointing at something behind Sayaka. "We're not done yet."

Sayaka looked around and saw another of the witch's victims, a young guy, maybe a high school student, with heavily gelled hair and baggy pants. He was holding a cheap cigarette lighter.

He was looking straight at them, so the element of surprise wasn't on their side this time, and Sayaka didn't think either of them could overpower him on her own. She looked over at Kyoko. "If we both attack at once..."

Kyoko gave a sharp nod. "Okay, one... two... _three_!"

They leapt at the boy, and his balance wavered. For a moment Sayaka thought he was going to keep his footing, but then he stumbled and went over backwards. Unfortunately, Sayaka went with him, but at least Kyoko stayed upright. While Sayaka was picking herself up, Kyoko stomped hard on the boy's wrist, forcing him to drop the lighter. Sayaka scooped it up and dashed for the drain, not even looking back to see how Kyoko was managing or whether anyone was coming after her. Only once the lighter was disposed of did she allow herself the luxury of pausing to catch her breath.

Once that was taken care of, Sayaka scanned the crowd for any more suspicious activity, but no one else produced any sources of fire. Moments later, though, a bright spot appeared in the air. It was small enough at first to be some trick of the light, but it quickly grew into a tall, thin rip in reality that glowed like an open furnace: unmistakably the entrance to a witch's labyrinth.

"I can handle things from here," said a familiar voice.

If Homura was surprised to see Sayaka and Kyoko there, it didn't show—but then, Sayaka wasn't sure she could ever tell what Homura was thinking or feeling.

"Yeah, I guess we should leave the rest to the professional," Kyoko said, with a distinctly bitter note in her voice.

Sayaka backed away and watched as the portal swallowed Homura and vanished.

* * *

"So, mission accomplished, huh?" Sayaka said as they walked back the way they'd come.

"I guess," said Kyoko, eyes fixed on the ground in front of her.

Sayaka could understand why she was upset—it had felt good to be back in action, and it had been hard to step back just when the situation was getting serious. But Sayaka had at least been glad to realize that there was still something she could do; Kyoko seemed to be taking it harder. And what was she going to do after Sayaka went home? Go off to wherever it was she was staying all by herself? It seemed almost cruel to leave her alone in this mood.

"Do you want to come over to my house tonight?" Sayaka asked.

Kyoko blinked. "... Won't your parents mind?" she said, after a moment.

"They usually don't with Madoka and Hitomi. And they think you're my helpful friend from school, remember?"

"Well... okay, then."

A quick phone call home confirmed that it wouldn't be a problem, and within half an hour they were sitting at the table in Sayaka's apartment. Kyoko wasn't very talkative; she didn't join the conversation unless someone asked her a direct question, and then she responded in as few words as possible and went back to conveying rice from the bowl to her mouth with the utmost concentration—more than was necessary or usual, even for her. Sayaka tried to keep up a cheerful stream of chatter to make up for it and hoped that her parents weren't going to get on her case about her poor choice of friends later.

When the meal was over, the two of them retired to Sayaka's room, and Sayaka began setting up the spare futon while Kyoko perched on Sayaka's bed, watching her.

"So, uh," Kyoko began, then paused a bit before continuing. "I just.... I wanted to say thank you for inviting me. I know I wasn't great company at dinner, but... it was nice, not to be eating alone."

"It was no trouble. I'm glad you enjoyed it, even if my parents can be kind of annoying."

She'd meant it as a sort of joke to smooth over the tension, but as soon as she said it, she wished she hadn't. Holding her breath, she waited for _At least you have parents_ or _You should appreciate them while you've got them_ or something to that effect.

But Kyoko just shrugged and said "They weren't that bad."

Silence fell between them for a moment. Sayaka straightened the blanket on the futon, then, her task complete, went to sit next to Kyoko.

"... You've been living alone for a long time, huh?" Sayaka asked.

"I guess. Why?"

"I was just wondering... I don't know... are you okay, living like that?"

Another shrug. "I get by. What, are you going to ask me to move in with you now? At the rate things are going, we're going to be married next week."

It was a joke, of course, an absurd statement meant to deflect concern, but something about it echoed in Sayaka's mind, bringing up a memory of the awkward moment at the park earlier, the strange, electric feeling of touching Kyoko. And it was ridiculous and she couldn't quite believe it, but all of a sudden she was sure she didn't _want_ it to be a joke. Well, not that she was thinking about marriage, exactly—junior high school was way too early for that, but—

Kyoko waved a hand in front of her face. "Hello? Are you there?"

"Sorry!" Sayaka said, her face reddening. "Anyway, I think my parents would mind if I invited you to live here, but maybe you could come over more often?" And she could have left it at that, but she thought, _well, why not?_ and took a deep breath and added, "And, well, I don't want to get married, but... maybe we could go on a date?" She looked down at her hands in her lap; she couldn't quite bring herself to watch Kyoko's reaction.

"... Are you serious?" Kyoko said flatly.

Sayaka slumped a little, her head still down. "Never mind. It was stupid. Forget I—"

"Hey." Kyoko's voice took on a gentler tone. "Just because I found it hard to believe you were asking doesn't mean the answer is no."

Their first kiss wasn't perfect—Kyoko leaned in a bit too forcefully and her forehead knocked into Sayaka's, then their noses smashed together and it took Sayaka a moment too long to figure out to tilt her head, and they both started laughing, so they had to break it off.

"I guess we're gonna have to practice that," Kyoko said, with a slight smirk.

And there were a lot of things they hadn't figured out, and a lot of problems still to be solved, and later she would have to think about all of that. But Sayaka was—she hoped they both were—a little happier, a little less alone. And for now, that was enough.


End file.
